Published: Thursday, 13th November, 2008 5:00pm

Dunfermline Cricket Club pays tribute to West Indian bowler Duncan Carter

by Simon Harris

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Carter during his Dunfermline days.
Pic by: Dunfermline Press

SHOCKED Dunfermline Cricket Club figures have paid tribute to former professional Duncan Carter, who has died at the age of 68.

The West Indian fast bowler became Scotland"s first club professional of the modern era when he arrived at McKane Park in 1978 – Dunfermline"s first pro since Englishman Geoff Wilkins in 1965.

His impact on the club and its fortunes was huge – in 1979, Carter was the professional in the Dunfermline side that just missed out on the treble of counties league title, Scottish Cup and Counties Cup.

Unlike most West Indians, he wasn"t flamboyant with the bat, occupying a steady middle order spot, but it was his bowling that was extraordinary, with few county teams able to live with his swinging yorkers delivered at searing pace.

Dunfermline stalwart Tom Gibson told Press Sport, 'My most vivid recollection is a game at Aberdeenshire.

"They were cakewalking it at 95-1 with a Scottish batsman by the name of DBS Brown at the crease and in complete control.

"Half an hour later, Carter had destroyed them. He had cleared them out. He was unbelievable.

'When he came here he was probably about 37 but you wouldn"t have known it because of the speed at which he bowled and his ability to keep going,' Gibson said.

'He was a hell of a good guy.'

John Bower was Dunfermline captain at the time of Carter"s stay and told Press Sport, 'I feel shocked, really shocked. It was a privilege to play with him.

'I remember travelling up to Aberdeenshire with him and we stopped at Lunin Bay near Montrose and I showed him the beach.

"He was from Barbados and he just turned to me and said, "You call that a beach?"'

Carter only played around five matches in the 1981 season before having a knee operation in the Dunfermline & West Fife Hospital.

That effectively ended his cricket career and he returned to Barbados, where he became a police detective, chairman of the national sports council and a politician.

His death came after a short illness following a stroke.